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Sotheby’s Auctions Brooke Astor’s Treasures - NYTimes.com: Five years later, after a corrosive battle over her $130 million estate, Sotheby’s will auction 901 lots of furnishings, decorative art, fine art and jewelry on Sept. 24 and 25, to support causes Mrs. Astor championed during her life, like the New York Public Library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Historic Hudson Valley and the Animal Medical Center.

I work at a great nonprofit organization (1) that is doing great things in the world, one that’s attacking daunting problems in a powerful new way. I believe in what we do, and think that we may be catalyzing a shift in how the world fights poverty.

After a few words of explanation—"Hi Leroy, this is Andy Robinson. I'm following up on the letter I sent about our fall fundraising campaign"—the person on the other end of the phone will say, "Sure, Andy, I'd love to get together. When's a good time for you?"

But until that day you must learn how to respond to the most common telephone objections when trying to schedule an appointment with your prospect.

Acronym: Digital Event Engagement Manager: A New Role for Association Pros: At any rate, that's how I came to attend the Learning Lab "The Strategic Impact of Digital Events on Meetings," even though I'm not a meeting planner (currently; in past jobs I have done meeting management). As luck would have it, the session felt a lot like a social media session—a lot of talk about traditional versus new, with face-to-face meetings being the gold standard (like traditional communication media) and virtual or hybrid events the shiny new thing (like social media).

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Girl Scouts’ CEO set to retire amid growth � Philanthropy North Carolina: Now, as Mitchell Sinclair prepares to retire from the Scouts on Jan. 31, 2013, the Council is sponsoring a series of events and raising money as part of a $1 billion “To Get Her There” campaign by Girl Scouts USA for its 100th anniversary this year to boost equal representation of women in public and professional life over the next generation.

"It's almost inconceivable that someone could graduate in business enterprise but know nothing about philanthropy," Haney said. "In this day and age, people in business like to see employees with a community commitment, a sense of obligation to society and an understanding of giving."

But, unless a student is taught about the business of nonprofits, they may not have an understanding of how they operate, Haney said.

What officials at the youth charity the Second Mile knew about the extent of child-abuse allegations against the group’s founder, former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, and how they responded is the subject of a special report by Harrisburg, Pa., daily The Patriot-News.

Charity Navigator, one of the nation’s most-prominent watchdog groups, says it doesn’t want to punish nonprofit aid groups whose revenues are shown to be lower since they adopted a more conservative approach to valuing their product donations. The watchdog, which rates charities in part on their financial health, will give organizations the chance to revise past financial statements so they won’t be hurt by plummeting revenues.